A new way to classify tuberculosis (TB) that aims to improve focus on the early stages of the disease has been presented by an international team involving researchers at UCL (University College London).
Under the new classification, there are four disease states: clinical (with symptoms) and subclinical (without symptoms), with each of these classed as either infectious or non-infectious. The fifth state is M. tuberculosis infection that has not progressed to disease – that is, M tuberculosis may be present in the body and alive, but there are no signs of the disease that are visible to the naked eye, for example with imaging.
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2213260024000286
